Pete links up with the team from Niner Bikes, hops in the van to Woburn and goes against the clock to answer the question.
Two Niner Bikes. One trail. One hairy human being. Which of these two bikes will go faster at Woburn? Pete put them to the test.
Photo and video by Henry George / Dolomite Creative.
Back in September, Pete was invited down to the UK Niner Bikes HQ in Bedfordshire, and after some chat with main man Duncan McCann, a challenge very quickly formulated. With this part of the World being far removed from my home terrain, some discussion led to what kind of bike would be fastest…
Duncan assured me a gravel bike would easily be quicker, and in the right circumstances I was inclined to agree with him. A good, short travel mountain bike though could do just as well if the terrain got choppy. There was only one real way to find out.
With a Niner Jet 9 RDO and a Niner RLT 9 Steel in the van, we headed to the infamous Woburn Bike Trails to scout out a loop where I could do back to back runs to go against the clock. The red-graded trail there was soon picked out as a suitable candidate and I spent an hour or two familiarising myself with the layout.
Where the ground was smooth, or where a smooth line could be picked, the RLT 9 Steel gravel bike was undoubtedly rapid. It made use of every ounce of energy I put in when stamping on the pedals and could handle far more rough than I’d anticipated. The downside was lower speed into and out of corners, and lower speeds through the rough.
The Jet 9 RDO was a hoot and I felt at home immediately on it. Whilst it just didn’t have the speed across the flatter, smoother sections, I could carry speed through the rough, pick my lines at will and my exit speed was so much quicker. Pros and cons from the off then for both bikes. I genuinely didn’t know which would be quicker. It would either be super close or quite the difference.
The loop we picked had a bit of everything. Roots, jumps, berms, singletrack and a bit of fire road for good measure. Conditions were good, with the sandy dirt offering heaps of grip and rolling speed.
I took the gravel bike out first, and trying to ride this thing faster than I’d done so far definitely took it out of me. I just wasn’t willing to risk a crash, so the choppy sections were done fairly slowly and the lack of give in the frame saw me fatigue quickly despite its turn of speed across the ground. Where I could open up the taps though, the RLT 9 Steel was a treat, whipping through the woods at a speed the Jet just simply couldn’t muster.
As I wheezed myself back to life after the opening lap, Duncan informed me that I’d done a 10:57. I reckoned the Jet would either do an 11:04 or a 10:56. I didn’t want to call it, both bikes had their strengths and weaknesses, and both felt pretty evenly matched when I was pushing them hard.
Out of the blocks on the mountain bike I felt quite unsurprisingly comfortable and the first fast turns felt amazing compared to the gravel bike. Entry and exit speed eclipsed what I was happy doing on skinny tyres. This is where the MTB could swing it.
By now I was pretty knackered, but I was willing to give it all for the sake of the challenge. There was still so little in it I felt. The faster entry and exit speed to trickier sections on the MTB offset by the much higher speed on the easy stuff on the gravel bike.
Happy to cut across the finish line, I awaited the time… 10:33. Quite the difference indeed. The mountain bike had really thrown it down. The caveat being that I am not a gravel rider by any means. The mountain bike was familiar and I could set it up as I pleased. On the gravel bike, I just put my pedals on it and off I went.
The RLT 9 Steel wasn’t that far behind though, more akin to a firm sports car in that in its element, it’s clearly fast and maybe faster. For me though, the Jet 9 RDO was just too easy to ride fast and showed how capable a 120mm 29er could be. It was just a hoot from the get-go and really loved back wheel.
